Make your own multi-surface cleaner

This homemade cleaner works for both kitchen and bathroom, disinfects, works out a lot cheaper than store-bought cleaner, is gentle on the environment and doesn’t pong of chemicals. It takes a few seconds to make, if you have the ingredients to hand, and I’ve been using it for about four years now.

I promised this recipe in my recent Summer Naturals post. I make a bottle at a time, and it lasts just as long as the supermarket’s chemical equivalent.

You will need:

An empty spray bottle. Ideally, wash and reuse a supermarket kitchen or bathroom spray bottle. But if you don’t have any empty bottles, you can buy them new from the gardening section of the supermarket or haircare section of Boots of Supermarket. They cost £0.99 from the gardening section of Morrisons, for example.

White vinegar. I get mine from Summer Naturals.

Borax. Again, I get mine from Summer Naturals.

Washing-up liquid.

Essential oil. I prefer lemon: it makes the house smell clean and fresh. But really, anything you have knocking about will do.

To make the multi-surface cleaner, add the ingredients to the spray bottle in the following quantities:

– a heaped teaspoon of borax
– two fingers worth of white vinegar
– a tiny dab of washing-up liquid
– 2-3 drops essential oil
– fill up to the top with warm water

That’s it! Screw the lid back on, and away you go – use it just as you would a store-bought cleaner. You’ll find that the homemade version cuts through the grease, grime, limescale etc. beautifully. If it doesn’t, add some more of the white vinegar. In case you are wondering, the esential oil is supposed to stop your kitchen and bathroom whiffing of vinegar after a clean. Either way, essential oil smells so much nicer than bog-standard cleaning chemicals…